The Jim Henson Company is teaming with iTheatrics to bring its holiday TV special Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas to the stage as a musical. Currently in the development stage, Christopher Gattelli (he choreographed the current revival of South Pacific) is set to direct the stage musical from a new book, which he is writing with iTheatric’s Tim McDonald. Composer/lyricist/actor Paul Williams, who wrote the music and songs for the holiday special, is working on new songs for the stage version. Based on a kid’s book of the same name by author Russell Hoban and illustrated by Lillian Hoban, the Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas TV special premiered on HBO back in 1977.

While I was in Amherst the dinner conversation mostly consisted of people coming to the table saying, "I just heard Mo on the radio!" Well, I forgot all about it until Children’s Illustration linked to this audio piece on NPR. I am now official in girl-love with Michele Norris, because she embodies Piggy better than anyone I’ve ever heard. And Mo’s "I love throwing toys" is downright inappropriate for ears under the age of 27. Extra points for the use of the Baby Elephant Walk.

Friggin’ awesome idea alert! Man, I gotta try something like this on my site someday. Check out this announcement from everyone’s favorite children’s literary podcast:

This July, the Just One More Book!! children’s book podcast will celebrate its second anniversary and 400th episode of promoting children’s books and literacy. As part of our celebration, we are redesigning our website and would like the new look to include artwork that promotes a love of reading.

Illustrators of all backgrounds are invited to submit a logo-like illustration that can be resized nicely and featured on our website for everyone to enjoy. Illustrators submitting artwork will be invited to be guests of Just One More Book!! to talk about their design, the creative process and how their submission helps to promote a love of reading.

We ask that all submissions be emailed to justonemorebook@gmail.com in JPG, PNG or GIF format, 500×500 pixels on or before June 15, 2008 . Please let us know if you have any questions.

Daily Image:

Blah blah, I don’t do YA, blah blah, just kid stuff for me, blah blah blah. Okay, enough of that. Check out this truly awesome poster from the UK that was sent to Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother:

Elizabeth Bird is currently New York Public Library's Youth Materials Collections Specialist. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of NYPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

Podcasty Goodness

About A Fuse #8 Production

Features everything from librarian previews of upcoming children's books to news, reviews, and videos. If it has something to do with children's literature, it will rate a mention here.

Betsy Bird is the Youth Materials Specialist of New York Public Library. She's reviewed for The New York Times and Kirkus, writes articles for Horn Book and SLJ, and wrote the picture book Giant Dance Party. You can contact her at Fusenumber8@gmail.com or follow her on . . .